Fox News picks Belize as tourism hotspot

A recent Fox News television broadcast highlighting Belize as one of a few selected international tourism hotspots shows that North Americans needn’t travel far to visit one of the world’s best vacation destinations, according to The Lodge at Chaa Creek’s Larry Waight.

“It was interesting to be watching television and seeing Belize come up as one of the Fox News hotspots for 2012, in company with just a few select locations that included more distant destinations such as Vietnam, India and Korea,” Mr Waight said. “What it said to me was, ‘great, you don’t need to travel far to enjoy what tourism industry experts and an authority like Fox News describe as the most interesting and best in the world’,” he said.

“It’s sort of undiscovered compared to Mexico, but it’s right next to Mexico, and it’s relatively safe, everyone speaks English there, it’s a really accessible place for Americans to visit and it has loads and loads of these wonderful, ancient Mayan sites that you can really go explore…” Ms Gill enthused.

Cahal Pech is one of the wonderful Maya Temple Sites in Belize. This ceremonial center includes pyramid temples, palaces, and a ball court.

The Fox News show interviewed industry leaders such as Ms Gill and Philippe Kjellgren, CEO of world’s largest group of luxury hotels, The Kiwi Collection who, after agreeing that tourism industry figures are expected to be healthy for 2012 offered their views on the world’s hotspots.

Ms Gill pointed out that the United Nations World Tourism Organisation reported that some 980 million people travelled last year, and this year the number is expected to exceed 1 billion. “That’s really striking,” she said.

“Travel is something I guess people really need, it’s an injection, a vitamin injection of really getting away,” Mr Kjellgren added, before both experts gave their travel tips.

In addition to Belize, Turkey, Brazil, Seoul and Vietnam were singled out for special mention.

“The striking thing for me was, while the other locations must be special to make the Fox News list, only Belize is so close to the US and Canada, so if you count travel costs, as well as the savings Chaa Creek is able to offer with our all-inclusive Belize vacation packages and our network of colleagues on Belize’s Caribbean coast, islands and Belize Great Barrier Reef, we must come out on top as not only among the best, but certainly the most affordable.